By Lantern Light

Self-Guided Walking Tour of Historic Campus

Explore "Old Campus" with a self-guided audio tour! With helpful student interpreters, William & Mary trivia, a candle-lit path, and a separate tour of the Wren Building, the self-guided tour offers you complete freedom to explore the history of the university at your own pace.

We encourage you to enjoy the ambiance of lantern light and take advantage of our student interpreters stationed along the route by participating on Friday, September 18 and Saturday, September 19 from 8:00-10:00 pm. 

No registration required. 

Instructions

• Pack your headphones! This tour is primarily an audio tour, with brief in-person components.
• There are two parts to the By Lantern Light tour experience: a guided tour of the Wren Building and an audio tour of "Old Campus".
  • Option 1: You can begin your experience with the guided tour of the Wren Building by meeting one of our dedicated Spotswood Society volunteers on the front steps of the Wren Building (Colonial Williamsburg side). Tours will run in groups of 35 and will depart from the steps roughly every 10 minutes beginning at 7:30pm on Friday and Saturday. You will then begin the audio walking tour of "Old Campus" upon completion of your Wren tour.
  • Option 2: You can begin your experience with the audio walking tour of "Old Campus", which begins at the rear of the Wren Building (Sunken Garden side). Once you've completed the audio tour, you will meet one of our dedicated Spotswood Society volunteers on the front steps of the Wren Building for your guided tour.
• The audio tour of "Old Campus" begins at the rear of the Wren Building (Sunken Garden side) and moves in a clockwise fashion around the Sunken Garden. The tour route is marked by lanterns, luminaries, and directional signs to point you in the correct direction.
• A map of the tour route is available below and a printed copy can be picked up from volunteers stationed at the top of the Sunken Garden where you will begin your tour.
• After each building you will be offered the opportunity to pause and speak to a student interpreter stationed at many points of interest along the tour route.
• Once you've paused, spoken to our student interpreter or explored the point of interest, resume the audio and continue along the route.

Audio Tour

Click the play button below to begin the audio tour. A transcript is available here (pdf). 

{{audio|https://media.wm.edu/content/wm/studentaffairs/lanterntour2026.aac}}

Need a visual?

Use this map to follow along as you listen to the audio walking tour.

Accessibility

• Wren Building Tour: Please speak with the Spotswood Society volunteer who greets you at the Wren Building about any specific accessibility requests or needs you have for the Wren Building portion of the tour.
• Audio Tour: A transcript will be provided alongside the audio version of the tour. An accessible route that does not involve stairs is shown on the audio tour map. Any additional accessibility requests should be sent to familywekeend@wm.edu one week prior to the event.

Questions? Please email familyweekend@wm.edu, call 757-221-2508, stop by Family Weekend Headquarters & Check-In, or visit with our volunteers at the Sunken Garden during listed tour times.